The Quality of Life in Rural and Urban America

Abstract

Considerable uncertainty exists about the quality of life to be found at present in rural America. In 1957, Max Lerner wrote movingly of the demise of the small town in rural America, observing that this form of settlement had been eclipsed by the forces of urbanization and mechanization. According to Lerner, it was no longer possible to restore the American small town to its previous state of strength and vitality (Lerner, 1957). This is not an uncommon view of rural and small-town America, which depicts the conditions and resources of these areas as seriously deficient relative to the rest of our society. Yet, this gloomy diagnosis and prognosis seem much diminished in more recent accounts of rural America. Bradshaw and Blakely (1979) speak of a “new rurality,” where the countryside is blossoming with resources and opportunities made possible by new transportaion and communication technologies and where new rural residents, part of the urban to rural “reverse migration,” bring new talents and energies to the small towns of America. One might ask whether it is only the experts and social analysts who are ambivalent about the present state of rural America. Consider, then, the contradiction expressed in the attitude of the American public toward rural living versus their actions with regard to actual residential location. On the one hand, Americans show a longstanding and continuing preference to live in small towns and rural areas’65% of a national survey sample indicated this preference in 1948, 49% in 1966, 55% in 1970, and 58% in 1976 (Elgin, Thomas, Logothetti, & Cox, 1974; Gallup, 1978). On the other hand, the actual movement of Americans has been, until very recently, largely from the small towns and the countryside into metropolitan areas. This suggests that Americans do hold a positive image of rural and small-town living, but that this pull is not sufficiently strong to overcome the attractions that the larger population centers offer.